'One of these number ones is coming off today': Chasing Rainbows with Natarsha Birk

Donning the rainbow jersey is for most world champions the culmination of a life’s work – for Australia’s Natarsha Birk (nee Williams), it was also the realisation of a childhood dream.

Birk was the first elite woman to win a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) BMX World Championship in 1996 in Brighton, England, the first year of UCI sanctioned BMX World Championships.

The move from IBMXF–FIAC World Championships to UCI brought about several changes to the World Championships, and was the first time Birk lined up alongside a raft of Europeans.

“I hadn’t raced any of the European girls before other than some at IBMXF–FIAC World Championships, but I didn’t remember any of them,” Birk said.

“I had, however, raced some of the American girls because Australia had a bit of a team racing American Bicycle Association (ABA) events and the 1995 IBMXF–FIAC World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia in 1995.

“So, that was my first little insight into elite racing prior to the UCI era.”

Heading into the 1996 UCI BMX World Championships, Birk had struggled to piece together a perfect day at previous Worlds.

In Bogotá, the Innisfail-raised Birk crashed in the semi, a theme Birk credited to her win it or bin it racing style.

“I rode over my head a little bit I'd say nearly every time I raced. Sometimes it paid off and sometimes it didn’t,” she said.

“However, in 1996, I was so confident that year, I just felt really good with my riding.

“The track was really suited to me, I mean there weren’t really many jumps on it at all because it was back in 1996, but there were enough to benefit me.

“It was also a short first straight, which wasn’t great for me because my gate starts sucked, but the rest of the track had technical enough jumps which I could jump, and the other girls couldn’t.

“That helped me open up and get going to stretch away from people.”

One perfect day

When race day arrived at the track on the outskirts of Brighton, Birk knew she was riding a wave of confidence.

Everything was coming together perfectly including successfully jumping a section no other women were jumping in tandem with junior woman teammate Alesha Pollard.

“There was something there, I knew I was going to win,” Birk said.

“In the main, I had the outside gate, which for me was perfect, and I had the worst gate start in the world … I was in eighth place going around the first turn and the second straight helped me open up and jump through the pack into first.

“I don’t know how I did it or what happened, it’s still a blur to this day, but I came out in first place.

“I still remember crossing the finish line and all the officials came up to me and I was like oh my gosh did I cross the line? Did I do something wrong, am I getting disqualified? But they grabbed me for drug testing.

“Honestly, I was in shock for a while. You dream about being a world champion for so long, but then when UCI came to the show, you wanted that rainbow jersey.

“It took a while to sink in, that’s for sure. I remember just lying in bed thinking oh my gosh, I just won Worlds.

“There were a lot of emotions that went through my brain, just playing out different scenarios of what else could have happened or how it could have gone wrong and then you’re trying to remember the race as well because back then you couldn’t just watch a video straight away from a phone.”

Birk’s celebration was made all the sweeter by being able to share the moment with Pollard, the 1996 Junior Women’s BMX World Champion.

“It was special – we had become pretty good friends through travelling together,” Birk said.

“We were roommates and everything, so it was pretty cool to win together because we went through the same struggles beforehand with the track and we worked together to get the track dialled in.

“It was fun to be able to be there and celebrate with someone on your team who had just achieved the same thing.”

Three years of heartbreak

At the 1997 UCI BMX World Championships in Saskatoon, Canada, Birk was locked in on defending her rainbow jersey.

Her dominance throughout the day soon turned to devastation, however, with a t-bone passing move on Birk in the last turn of the semi-finals wiping her out of qualification for the main.

A year later in Melbourne, Birk would again fall short of the top step, crashing in the main on the first straight.

Australia’s Rachel Marshall would go on to win the 1998 Elite Women's World Championship among the mayhem.

The 1999 UCI BMX World Championships in Vallet, France were the hardest of all for Birk, who crashed heavily during the quarter-finals.

“I’d been living and racing in Europe for two years, not losing a race ever and then in the quarters I got caught in the wind while in the air,” she said.

“I went straight to my head, knocked myself out, fractured my cheekbone and couldn’t remember a thing of it after that.

“I didn’t even know I’d crashed.”

The two-time world champion

After three years of heart wrenching attempts at reclaiming the rainbow jersey, Birk was more than ready when the 2000 UCI BMX World Championships in Córdoba, Argentina rolled around.

“I went in so prepared and so ready that I remember after being given number 11 I called my mum and said one of these number ones is coming off today,” she said.

“It’s definitely a mindset you need going into an event.

“I knew when I was going to win and I knew when I had doubts.

“I knew I was going to win ‘99 too … but the world thought it differently (laughs).

“The rainbow jersey is something we all strive for.

“I put in my yearbook one time that I was going to be a world champion.

“Everyone wants to be the best and the rainbow jersey in cycling shows that you are the best.

“Everybody wants to wear those colours.”

The 2021 UCI BMX SX World Championships take place this Sunday, August 22 in Papendal, Netherlands.